


Breaking the Habit

by Augustus



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-08-31
Updated: 2000-08-31
Packaged: 2018-03-07 16:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Augustus/pseuds/Augustus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A challenge response to the WL slash "Ryan's shoes" prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking the Habit

"Oh, not again," Colin groaned as Ryan burst through the front door, carrying yet _another_ shoe box, as well as the groceries that he had been actually sent out to purchase.

"What's wrong?" Ryan asked innocently, wandering into the kitchen to offload the excess baggage. "Did I forget something?"

Colin followed along behind his lover, slowly counting to ten before he thought it safe to answer. After all, it wasn't _really_ Ryan's fault that he could be a little dim at times...

"No, you didn't forget anything," he said finally, pawing through the grocery bags until he found the latest edition of "Dinosaur Weekly" magazine. "Hey, look!" he exclaimed, momentarily distracted from his irritation. "You get a free Tyrannosaurus Rex tattoo!"

"I saw," Ryan nodded. "You'll have to put it on somewhere secret and let me find it later tonight..."

Colin frowned. Why was it that Ryan always managed to come out with enticing suggestions like that just when he was trying to be annoyed with his boyfriend?

_Be strong, Colin,_ he told himself. _You can do this…_

"Ryan," he began, carefully avoiding the younger man's eyes. "It's about your addiction."

Ryan frowned, and quickly hid his new packet of Clive Anderson trading cards behind a cauliflower. "Addiction?" he asked innocently. "I know you too well to not notice that something's been going on."

A quick glance at Ryan revealed that his eyes were flicking nervously around the room - looking everywhere but at his lover. Obviously the man was in denial. Colin was going to have to be blunt.

Striking a concerned pose against the refrigerator, he braced himself for a confrontation. "Ryan, you have to stop buying shoes," he stated, quietly but firmly. When there was no immediate outcry from Ryan, he went on. "Look, you know I appreciate the benefits of footwear as much as the next man, but there is such a thing as having _too_ many pairs of shoes and I'm afraid that you have all of the symptoms of such an affliction.

Ryan frowned. "I don't have _that_ many pairs," he protested.

"No?" Colin scoffed. "You don't call two hundred and thirty four pairs 'many'?"

"Well..." Ryan was a little thrown by the last revelation.

_When in doubt, change the subject,_ his mind assisted.

_Good idea,_ he replied internally.

"But I thought that you _liked_ my shoes," he protested eventually, making sure that Colin was looking in his direction so that his pout would have its full effect.

Colin was immediately at Ryan's side, arms wrapped tightly around his boyfriend's long torso. "Oh of course I like your shoes, Ryan, you know I do," he murmured. "I just think that you should cut back a little on your shoe purchases. You can't leave the house without buying another pair of runners, or some dress shoes - and don't forget about the time you came home with that pair of authentic Sumerian frog-catching wobble-boots. It's an addiction!"

"Oh, I know," Ryan replied in his best 'Days of Our Lives' tone of voice. "I'm trying my hardest to stop, really I am. I decided to go cold turkey about a week ago, but I didn't want to say anything until I was sure that I could stay on the wagon."

Colin gently rubbed his lover's back. "Hey," he murmured. "Don't be ashamed just because you had one little slip up."

Ryan pulled away in surprise. "Slip up?!? What do you mean?"

Colin pointed sadly to the shoe box sitting right in the middle of the kitchen table.

Ryan's eyes widened in cognition. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "So that's what this is all about!"

Colin nodded, feeling a little bad for uncovering his lover's secret.

"But they're not for me!" Ryan corrected. "They’re a present for you!" He grinned broadly at the sight of the guilty look that was beginning to collect on Colin's face.

"But..." Colin paused, collecting his thoughts. "But you've never brought me *shoes* before!"

"That's because I've had no cause to do so."

"And you do now?"

Ryan just nodded his response before untangling himself from Colin's arms and retrieving the cardboard box from the table.

"Go on," he smiled, handing it over. "Open it. See what you think."

Discarding the lid of the shoe box, Colin found himself staring down at a bright red and yellow spotted pair of scuffs - complete with six-inch platform soles. "Uh... they're... lovely?" he ventured, deciding that a small white lie wouldn't do _too_ much harm.

"Put them on!" Ryan prompted.

Defeated, Colin slipped the shoes onto his feet, immediately finding himself six inches taller. Suddenly everything began to slowly make sense...

"You always complain about getting a crick in your neck when you kiss me," Ryan explained. "I thought that these might help..."

"I'm sorry that I doubted you," Colin apologised, after giving his new found height a test run.

"That's okay," Ryan shrugged. "Besides, shoe collecting is _so_ five minutes ago."

Momentarily slipping out of Colin's arms, Ryan quickly retrieved his Clive CardsTM from their hiding place and thrust them deep into his pocket where Colin would never find them...

**

{fin}  
31-08-2000

**


End file.
